The
MaxTheater big-screen kit sounds too good to be true. For only $16.95 it promises to turn a 13-inch to 27-inch TV set or computer monitor into a 150-inch home-theater projector.
No, that's not a typo. Just $16.95 turns your 20-year-old boob tube into a state-of-the-art big-screen home theater. How can you lose?
Well, you can lose if your home has a lot of natural light. You can lose if you hate projects that require minor assembly. You can lose if you don't want to turn your TV set upside down. And you can lose if you're fresh out of duct tape.
What $16.95 gets you
If you order the MaxTheater kit and eagerly await the product's arrival, you may be disappointed by the size of the package. It doesn't come in an oversize crate with "Fragile" stamps and foreign-looking stickers on it.
Instead, this home-theater projection system comes in a 9-inch by 12-inch envelope with "Do Not Bend" stickers on it.
You may also be disappointed after you open the envelope. Enclosed are two pieces of translucent plastic, a CD-ROM with assembly instructions, and a sheet of paper with copyright information.
The secret is in the plastic
No, you haven't been ripped off. The two pieces of plastic in the MaxTheater kit are Fresnel lenses, which can magnify your television's magical rays of entertainment and project them onto a wall.
Learn more about
Fresnel lenses and how they work.
Some assembly required
To make the MaxTheater work, you must build a projection box out of wood or cardboard. The MaxTheater CD-ROM contains instructions on how to build four different projection boxes with the Fresnel lenses.
Because the Fresnel lens inverts the images it magnifies, the quickest and easiest setup requires you to turn your TV set or monitor upside down. If you'd rather not risk your TV's well-being by turning it upside-down, the instruction disc offers you a few ways to work around this problem.
Turn off all the lights
Associate Producer
David Prager tested the MaxTheater system by building a projection box out of cardboard boxes, duct tape, and a Fresnel lens. He says the rig worked surprisingly well at magnifying images. However, the amount of light emitted by his TV or monitor wasn't enough to project a crisp, clear image on the wall.
Prager has a little more testing to do. He's following the troubleshooting advice on the MaxTheater CD-ROM to see if he can get a crisper image out of the projection box.
What's the verdict?
Is the MaxTheater worth your $16.95 and your construction efforts? Will Prager get his projection box working in top-notch form? Tune in to tonight's episode of "The Screen Savers" to find out what the gang thought of this low-budget entertainment enhancer.
